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Can a brand ever truly reinvent itself in the eyes of its audience, or do they have to reduce, reuse and recycle old material in the hopes that people will rediscover their love for it?
Case in point: “Saturday Night Live” and “Dancing with the Stars”—two TV icons that have outlived most trends yet felt the tug of modernity in the wake of dwindling ratings. When it comes to entertainment, staying relevant is harder than finding parking on campus, and for these shows, the answer was hiding in plain sight.
For decades, “SNL” set the standard for topical comedy and cultural commentary. But as generations grew up and grew old, so did its audience, drifting off to new platforms that matched their attention spans. The challenge for “SNL” was monumental—how do you convince Gen Z, an audience that wasn’t even born during the rise of the cast’s original legends, to tune in?
Twitter, Instagram and TikTok became the ecosystem most generations began to rely on. You could go viral for almost anything, and up-and-coming comedians took advantage of that. Rather than relying solely on word of mouth and Instagram posts of show dates, they turned their best sets into Instagram reels or TikToks to feed their comedy to people who may have never found it otherwise.
Comedian Marcello Hernandez is a perfect example of “SNL” using social media to their advantage. He started his career in 2016 at the age of 18 and has had amazing opportunities to open for some big names in the comedy industry including Tim Dillon, but TikTok clips of an incredibly viral YouTube video set in motion his true rise to fame. Thanks to his age and Hispanic heritage, he made a perfect addition to the cast by being able to relate to a broader audience. Social media has also made it easier to decipher who an audience will have a good reaction to based on trends and comedy styles they see prevalent. Comedians like Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim, Jane Wickline and Sarah Sherman have also been great younger additions to the cast who have comedy styles that appeal to the younger audience “SNL” has been trying to reach.
“SNL” launched an online strategy that brought sketches from Studio 8H (“SNL’s” studio in Manhattan) directly to your smartphone, faster than you could blink. By dropping clips immediately after each sketch aired and crafting teaser content that wasn’t available in the live broadcast, “SNL” invited fans into a world of exclusives and sneak peeks. A new well-curated social media presence and stronger coffee for the staff gave new life to the decades-old institution, showing that the program could be both traditional and fresh in one breath. It was a call to every young person scrolling at 2 a.m., myself included.
Then there’s “Dancing with the Stars,” a different kind of icon, yet just as classic. “DWTS” began as a phenomenon, a prime-time darling, but with time, it became easy to write it off as your mom’s favorite TV show. But “DWTS” had an epiphany—one as powerful as Milo Manheim and Witney Carson's Season 27 week 8 Halloween week performance. To capture younger viewers, they didn’t need to overhaul their format; they just had to start the party where everyone was hanging out. TikTok and Instagram became their rehearsal rooms, with rehearsals, behind-the-scenes antics and quick interviews. The real magic came with live social media reactions from the dancers and stars themselves. Engaging in real-time, they turned what had been a simple vote-in show into a full-blown interactive experience. Suddenly, the votes weren’t just a formality—they were stories shared on Instagram Lives and TikTok trends.
The “Dancing with the Stars” team listened to social media the same way “SNL” did by casting people who had sparked Gen Z's interest. This strategy has seemingly paid off by starting Season 33 with one of the most-watched premiere episodes in the last several years with 7.32 million total viewers, according to “ABC” Entertainment. 2024 Olympic medalists, Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, garnered massive social media followings and became viral sensations during their time in Paris by posting their Olympic journey. Bachelor Nation's Joey Graziadei was a fan favorite from his season, and Bachelorette Jenn Tran agreed to do “DWTS” less than one hour after the viral season finale aired. Anna Delvey's fall from grace and subsequent arrest has hooked people from many generations since the story broke, even sparking a Netflix series based on her life. The controversy around her having a house arrest ankle monitor while participating in the show brought a large amount of press; they bedazzled it and fed into the “felon or fashion icon” debate on social media. By leveraging the power of influencers and creating meme-worthy moments, both “SNL” and “DWTS” transformed the way they relate to viewers. They’ve embraced a new, more interactive version of “live”—one that allows audiences not only to watch but to connect, comment and react.
Have these shows been reborn, or simply rebranded? Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between. Social media gave “SNL” and “DWTS” the revival they needed. So long as they can keep up with the ever-evolving world around them, they should be safe from turning into lunchtime rerun shows.
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